At the age of 3, Amelie Stevens became one of the youngest New Zealand children to have a heart transplant.
The tot had been diagnosed with severe heart disease at 2, and was given a year to live.
A heart transplant was her last chance, and Amelie received the life-saving operation at
the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Now, the 6-year-old Matua Primary School pupil is "doing great" and is starring in an exhibition supporting Heart Children Week.
Mount Maunganui photographer Richard Cullwick came up with the exhibition Portraits of the Heart to raise awareness and support for heart kids.
Amelie is smiling in her portrait, but if you look closely you can see the scars from her surgery. Dad Richard Stevens said Amelie was now "good as gold" after her heart transplant.
Mr Stevens, wife Janine and baby son Lachlan, all relocated to Melbourne for 10 months for Amelie's operation, in which she was given the heart of an adult woman weighing 40-50kg.
Because Amelie was so small, the transplant was her last chance, Mr Stevens said.
"This heart was a match on tissue and blood, but not on size. If she didn't take this heart, she would have been gone within two months after that."
Because of her heart condition, Amelie also had a problem with her lungs, making her a "bad candidate" for a transplant.
While some heart transplant patients are discharged from hospital within two weeks, Amelie remained in ICU for two months, and in hospital for a third month. Doctors kept her chest open for a week.
"She fought pretty hard and got through it," Mr Stevens said.
Amelie must take medication three times a day to stop her body rejecting the heart. The drugs suppress the immune system, which means Amelie is susceptible to bugs.
Apart from taking medication for the rest of her life, and avoiding certain foods, Amelie has a normal life.
Portraits Of The Heart is on display at the exhibition space beside Craigs Investment Partners, 160 Cameron Rd, Tauranga
Heart Children Week ends on Saturday.
